One of the most common questions I’ve received while traveling (next to “What do you think about Trump?”) is “Has anything bad happened to you?”
Up until a week and a half ago (delayed post due to lack of wifi), my answer was shockingly, "No."
However, my luck turned rather quickly and suddenly on my last flight home.
On July 26th, I had phoned JetBlue to discuss changing my last flight back: Instead of flying from Bogota > Boston (via Orlando) I would fly from Bogota > Denver (via Orlando). Essentially, I didn’t want to go back to Boston yet.
JetBlue agreed to just delete my last flight from Orlando to Boston, with a cancellation charge and a credit for the unused flight. I thought this was rather generous at the time. Two thumbs up, JetBlue.
Therefore, I bought another flight from Orlando to Denver on Frontier Airlines, in order to accommodate my new plans.
When August 21st rolled around—my scheduled departure to Orlando on JetBlue—I made sure to get to the airport slightly more than two hours before my scheduled departure. This is a normal amount of time just about anywhere. Except for Bogotá.
Because in Bogotá, the people at the airports seem to run on Latin American time….while the airplanes still run on German time.
Forty minutes after getting to the airport, I was still waiting in line at JetBlue (because of course all the kiosks are broken). When I finally reached the front desk, I handed the JetBlue employee my passport and waited for her to give me a ticket.
“No tienes una reservación,” Even if you didn’t speak Spanish this would halt you.
“No, no, no.” These were the only words that could leave my mouth.
The employee began to explain in Spanish that I didn't have a ticket on this flight. In fact, I didn't have a ticket on ANY JetBlue flight out of Colombia.
Whoa.
I refused to accept that answer. After all, I had called JetBlue to coordinate with them and change my flight back in July. At this point, the employee said she would call JetBlue to confirm. She then walked away with her cell phone as I stood anxiously at the counter.
Twenty minutes later, she returns. Now, it is 6:15 am and my flight is scheduled to depart at 7:15 am. I am not only getting nervous about not having a flight but also potentially missing the one I am supposed to be on.
When she returned, she explained that they canceled my entire ticket (Bogota > Boston via Orlando) AND the next flight out of Bogota to Orlando is not until the next day. AND I would have to purchase that flight at full price.
My jaw dropped at this point and I was speechless for an awkwardly long time.
Once I could talk, she and I briefly went back and forth on this answer until I finally succumbed. “Fine, I’ll pay for the JetBlue flight at 7:15 am. The one I was supposed to be on.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry. We can’t sell you that one anymore. You’re three minutes late.”
My body heated up, my muscles clenched, and I’m pretty sure I started turning Hulk-green. But, instead, I tried to throw any Spanish words of shock at her.
Que! Como! En serio! No puede ser! MIERDAAAAA! Pretty much whatever came out in Spanish would do.
Three minutes late to a flight that hadn’t even started boarding yet!! Yet, I still needed to get out of Bogota.
My tactic changed to one of begging. “Please let me on the flight. Please make an exception, I already bought my next flight from Orlando which I’m now going to miss.”
Nothing.
I stormed out of the JetBlue line and then sat in a corner. Corners are good places for time outs and angry people.
I didn’t want to miss my already booked flight out of Orlando (to Denver) so I did a quick Google search of all flights. Sure enough, I found one that gave me a tight connection in Orlando but just might work.
Avianca Airlines had an open seat available, granted at a super hefty price tag. I bought the ticket at their (quick) sales counter, ran through security (in may I add, JetBlue employee, only seven minutes), then boarded my flight to Orlando. Even better, I just made it on my next flight to Denver as well.
It could have been worse—I could have been stuck without a flight and forced to spend even more money. Yet, it definitely wasn’t the ideal situation. And when bad things happen, they happen all together. The next day after arriving in Denver, I discovered a massive amount of bed bug bites that just showed up from Colombia.
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| De-bed bugging my luggage...thankfully in Denver. |
Womp womp.
I’m still fighting JetBlue on getting my money back. And, I had to clean out my entire room, backpacks, and bed to ensure that no bugs were brought back. (Clear.)
But at the very least, I now have an answer to that question.
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